Putin Remains Defiant in Face of New US Sanctions

President Obama has said he doesn’t aim to target Putin himself, but Monday’s sanctions do include several members of Putin’s inner circle.

Europe

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>world leaders
including
president obama
have unleashed new sanctions on
russia
taking aim at powerful figures and businesses linked to
vladimir putin
's
inner circle
. with
military action
deemed all but impossible, this is instead about using money to apply press sure. our report from our chief
foreign affairs
correspondent,
andrea mitchell
.

>> reporter: so far,
russia
isn't backing down. strong men went after supporters of kiev government and shooting a mayor in the back. he was injured seriously but survived. hit again with sanctions, valid mi --
vladimir putin
. after pressure on european leaders like oil giant pb. today
president obama
said he does not want to target
putin
himself.

>>the goal here is not to go after mr.
putin
personally. the goal is to change his calculous.

>> reporter: but those sanctions today do include sop who could be helping
putin
hide his fortune east mistimated to be in the billions. still,
putin
has not pulled back troops from the boarder. i asked the secretary what would happen next. what is the trigger point? would the u.s. move without european allies if
russia
invades?

>>the actions taken today means the situation has got considerably more worrisome and trouble some. we have many more steps we can take and are prepared to take them.

>> reporter: a news force was held for three days.

>>one had a machete and one had a shotgun. they were pointing it and saying let's shoot him here right now.

>> reporter: a russian group is holding seven international monitors.
president obama
said he doesn't know whether today's sanctions will change
putin
's behavior, brian?